32 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



eased a little in the evening, for during one of our games 

 of cross purpose at the doctor's house we discovered 

 that our opponents proposed to prevent our accompany- 

 ing the caravan on the ground that no ekhwan was 

 going with it. Apparently they still did not suspect our 

 ultimate destination, but we were not at all certain that 

 they had not wired for the camions from Benghazi. We 

 sat up late that night in the silent court with the stars 

 above us, and the guardian walls, which I had learned 

 to love, shutting out all eavesdroppers. The spies re- 

 tired in a body after our frugal dinner and Ali was 

 always thankful to spend the night in the family tent. 

 We decided on a simple but somewhat desperate plan. 

 We felt that we should be allowed only two or three 

 more days in Jedabia without an open fight, and we 

 could not be certain of the twenty camels necessary for 

 the caravan. Therefore we decided to leave practically 

 all our luggage behind and go off in the middle of the 

 night, if possible, with the ekhwan. Our little world 

 would be told next morning that we had gone to visit 

 some of the neighbouring camps and would return in a 

 day or two. To reassure them they would see all our 

 clothes hanging up on their usual pegs, most of our suit- 

 cases scattered about the room, our sacks and boxes of 

 provisions stored in various corners, even my camp chair 

 and the table on which I wrote. 



On December 6 we did a hard morning's work. 

 After our date and egg breakfast we settled ourselves 

 with a Koran and note-books behind closed doors and 

 said we did not wish to be disturbed. As soon as our 

 retinue had retired to the white bell-tent which served 

 as kitchen we set to work on the provision boxes. We 

 emptied them of their contents and carefully filled them 

 with immense stones which we laboriously collected from 

 an inner court in course of construction. On top we 



